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THE FADING MEMORIES OF YOUTH
You might think you remember taking a trip to Disneyland when you were 18 months old, or that time you had chickenpox when you were 2—but you almost certainly don’t. However real they may seem, your earliest treasured memories were probably implanted by seeing photos or hearing your parents’ stories about waiting in line for the spinning teacups. Recalling those manufactured memories again and again consolidated them in your brain, making them as vivid as your last summer vacation. ...
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The Costs of the Secrets We Keep
Psychological experiments historically included lab-invented secrets and simulated social interactions. But a fresher body of research explores the secrets people keep in their everyday lives, experimental psychologist Michael Slepian wrote in a new article for Current Directions in Psychological Science.
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Twisted Tales: Unraveling the Surprising Benefits of Irony
Podcast: APS’s Özge Gürcanlı Fischer Baum and Penny Pexman (Western University) discuss cognitive flexibility and emotion recognition, two crucial aspects underlying the processing of sarcastic speech.
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As More People Choose the Single Life, Researchers Ask: Are They Happier?
Nastasha Streiling says even though she'd like a relationship, she's happy being single. The 28-year-old, who lives in Victoria, says she's "not going to be with someone unless it enhances things." She's part of a growing number of single people in Canada and around the world. "There seems to be evidence that around the world people are staying single longer and sometimes staying single permanently," said Geoff MacDonald, a psychologist at the University of Toronto whose lab studies the well-being of single people.
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Your Immune System Can Make You Feel Sad, and That’s a Good Thing
While your body fights germs, you feel depressed, anti-social, even lethargic. Social neuroscientist Keely Muscatell offers an evolutionary explanation for why your mood and immune system are linked. ...
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We Still Don’t Believe How Much Things Cost
Deodorant was what changed Rob Cooper’s mind about the economy. After paying under $4 for his signature Old Spice Stronger Swagger for a decade, the 49-year-old was shocked last year to see it priced at $7.99. “My brain just cannot rationalize paying twice as much,” says Cooper, the Ambler, Pa.-based financial officer of a retail chain. “It doesn’t feel right.” Consumer-behavior researchers call Cooper’s expectation of $4 deodorant a reference price. A yearslong run of higher prices has unmoored many Americans’ expectations of what daily purchases should cost, from a cup of coffee to a package of paper towels.
